Sugartree Farmette’s Little Free Library has been stocked with new books! Our theme for March is banned/challenged books (past or presently banned/challenged). There are books for all ages available! Here’s a little info about banned/challenged books taken from the American Library Association website:
“According to the American Library Association, a banned book is a book that has been removed from the shelf of a library or school. A challenged books is a book that some people think should be removed, but hasn't been removed from the shelves of a library or school. The banning and challenging of books has, unfortunately, a long history throughout the world. It may surprise you that hundreds of books are challenged and banned each year in the United States alone. The American Library Association keeps statistics on those incidents which are forwarded to the ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom. Parents are by far the largest group to request a book removed from a school library or reading list, or from the shelves of a public library. Books can be challenged or banned for many reasons. Most reasons in this country include obscene language or sexual descriptions, offensive language, unsuitable for age level, homosexuality, racism, and religion. Reasons for other countries to ban books may include charges that the ideas of the book speak against the interests of the state (i.e. political). In the United States, your right to read what you want is protected by the First Amendment. In a free society, the author and reader are protected.”
And a few of my favorite quotes on banned/challenged books:
“Banning books give us silence when we need speech. It closes our ears when we need to listen. It makes us blind when we need sight.” – Stephen Chbosky
“There are no bad authors for children… because every child is different. They can find the stories they need to, and they bring themselves to stories.” – Neil Gaiman
“We should be including MORE books about all kinds of topics in our public libraries to help our kids learn and make decisions for themselves. We can make this a place that includes all of us – a place where we are all free to thrive and support each other for who we are.” – PFLAG #readwithlove
“Any book worth banning is a book worth reading.” – Isaac Asimov
We hope you too find some true treasures to read in our Little Free Library this month! We’ll be adding new books each week! Also, we now have a pink folder labeled “Activities” with printouts of coloring pages, reading logs, book report templates, Bingo reading games, etc.! Help yourself to the printouts, but please leave the folder😊 Enjoy, and happy reading!
